One sultry night
by queeqgqueg
Summary: Set between the books Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, Bella recognises Edward's silhouette in her bedroom.


It was sultry, quite unlike any night I'd experienced so far in Forkes. I had been used to this humidity in Phoenix but having acclimatised to the usual cloud cover and cold feel in the air in this small town, I was feeling decidedly uncomfortable and was finding it hard to find a restful position in the bed. Every corner felt hot within seconds of me lying on it and I searched various areas of the bed, trying out different angles to sleep in in order to find a part untouched by my body heat. As I turned over yet again, I became aware of his presence in the corner of the room, his silhouette as recognisable to me as my own would have been.

"Not sleeping? That's unlike you," Edward whispered.

"No one could in this heat. Funny, I thought I was used to this kind of temperature, coming from Phoenix."

"Want me to try and cool you down?"

He sounded more throaty than usual and I sensed something different in the air, apart from the temperature.

I snorted. "You're more likely to have the opposite effect."

I had stated the obvious, and he chuckled softly beneath his breath.

"Ok, if you don't want me to..."

"Well, you could try," and I could swear I saw a smug look cross his face.

The first I was aware of him was the cool body pressed against my back. His breath on the back of my neck sent a shiver, not completely related to his coldness.

"Thought I couldn't cool you down?" he asked quizzically, knowing full well the answer.

"I'm not cool." I commented, and the response was met by a low growl into my hair as his hands ran their fingers through it.

"I love you, Bella" he said, just a little too loudly in my ear, so that I was sure it could be heard from outside the door.

"SSshhh you'll wake Charlie."

"Don't worry. He's sound asleep. I could tell you what he's dreaming about if you want."

"No, thanks. There are some things a daughter doesn't need to know."

I paused slightly, considering.

"It's not related to me, is it?"

He laughed and cool air came out in short blasts on the back of my neck as his arms tightened around me.

"You're such a hypocrite at times."

I pushed myself back against him closer. To say we fit like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle would not do it justice. Air still passes between the pieces of a jigsaw and I'm sure none could get between our bodies. We were as one.

Edward's hands pushed my hair aside, enabling his lips to find my neck. He ran them down the edge of my throat to my shoulder, where he blew a thin draft of cool air across my bare skin. It was feathery and light, and the effect upon me was more than apparent, as his fingers unlocked from my waist enough to find their way beneath my top to stroke my stomach. He gently pushed back as he stroked, so that I could feel every hard muscle in the body behind me. His leg moved forwards, wrapping around mine. It was strong, but comforting and I lifted my foot so that I could rub my toes up and down his calf. It was then that it occurred to me. It was bare skin behind me, not the usual fully clothed Edward who held me in his arms nightly, and my pulse reacted immediately. I felt the blush spread from my face and travel through my body.

"You ok?" he muttered breathlessly into my shoulder.

"Yes," I managed to squeeze out, with the last of my breath, which was becoming too ragged to allow any more words.

I felt his facial muscles smile into my back. He knew very well the effect he was having on me, and for once didn't take the usual step back from it. His hand slowly moved away from my stomach and over the swell of my hips. Then an upward motion brought it lightly, but insistently over my ribs and up my arm. He lifted his head and to my surprise used his teeth to lower my shoulder strap so that it now flapped on my arm, his kisses becoming more forceful as they covered my skin, his breathing matching mine. I reached my hand up to stroke the cool, marble thigh that enveloped me, and he groaned into me, such a low utterance that I'm sure had Charlie walked into the room that moment he wouldn't have heard it.

I swivelled in his hold to face him and saw a new kind of hunger in his eyes, a dark fire I'd not seen before. In all our moments together he'd been able to pull back before, his strong reserve allowing him to withdraw his emotions before I wasn't capable of doing so, but I saw he'd gone past that point this time.

As I pulled myself tighter against him, my fingers clasping his hair, Edward's hands explored every part of me, his lips again finding the hollow of my neck. There was a hunger I'd never experienced as our lips met and parted, moving with an intensity I'd not known possible. His mouth moved to my ear where his teeth gently grazed against my ear lobe. The throaty voice that came out was far removed from the usual collected velvet tone I was accustomed to.

"Tonight, Bella, you're mine."

I don't know how I found the breath to answer him as he crushed me to him, but I managed one word as our bodies became one.

"Forever."


End file.
